A Review of TV White Space Technology and its Deployments in Africa

Abstract

The emergence of bandwidth-driven applications in the current wireless communication environment is driving a paradigm shift from the conventional fixed spectrum assignment policy to intelligent and dynamic spectrum access. Practical demands for efficient spectrum utilization have continued to drive the development of TV white space technology to provide affordable and reliable wireless connectivity. It is envisaged that transition from analogue transmission to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) creates more spectrum opportunity for TV white space access and regulatory agencies of many countries had begun to explore this opportunity to address spectrum scarcity. To convey the evolutionary trends in the development of TV white space technology, this paper presents a comprehensive review on the contemporary approaches to TV white space technology and practical deployments of pilot projects in Africa. The paper outlines the activities in TV white space technology, which include regulations and standardization, commercial trials, research challenges, open issues and future research directions. Furthermore, it also provides an overview of the current industrial trends in TV white space technology which demonstrates that cognitive radio as an enabling technology for TV white space technology.